Several Congress leaders accused the government of trying to ‘silence’ Twitter after it labelled a document shared by BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra as ‘manipulated media’.
A day after Delhi Police teams went to Twitter India’s offices in Delhi and Gurugram, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi said on Tuesday that the truth is never afraid.
“Truth remains unafraid,” Mr. Gandhi tweeted with the hash tag # Toolkit.
Several Congress leaders accused the government of trying to ‘silence’ the social media company through the Delhi Police after Twitter labelled a document shared by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Sambit Patra as ‘manipulated media’.
On May 18, Mr. Patra shared a document in his twitter handle, alleging it to be a toolkit that was prepared by the Congress to malign the image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his government’s handling of the second wave of COVID-19.
Calling the document forged, the Congress filed a police complaint against Mr. Patra and BJP president J.P. Nadda, Union Minister Smriti Irani and party functionary B.L. Santosh for sharing it on Twitter.
Separately, a day later, the Congress wrote to Twitter to permanently suspend their accounts.
In this backdrop, the Congress called Delhi Police’s visit to Twitter’s offices as an attempt to ‘intimidate’ Twitter.
“The subjugation of free speech, attempts to stifle every dissenting voice against this government and State sponsored fraudulent means to propagate and instil fear continues unabated in the Modi government,” chief Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said.
“Please remember Mr. Prime Minister that free speech and rights to express opinion is our fundamental right in this country. You can’t subjugate the Constitution, you can’t stifle free speech and you will not be able to suppress the voice of the young,” he added.
Former Union Minister Kapil Sibal tweeted, “Manipulated Toolkit: When truth is bitter, rein in Twitter. Attack when you can’t defend !”
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